Damilola Oyedokun decided to set up AZALEA Events and Florals – an events management and decor company, out of a towering need and mounting requests that she turned her childhood passion into a cash cow. The Geography graduate of the University of Ibadan consequently went honed her craft in event management as she bagged certificates in project management and florals. She told THE CAPITAL her story.
Damola Oyedokun flaunts a rare bequest; she possesses the gift of enabling you look inwards many times over to rediscover your innate talents and latent endowments. In a more idealistic epoch, she would have been a historian’s delight, with her arresting disposition, uncompromising moral fibre and enthusiasm, among other enviable traits.
However, despite the limitless possibilities that are open to her in a world that increasingly values and elevates striking beauty above everything else, Damola would rather not be just be another pretty face. Yet soon her face will be everywhere you look; the pretty lady is not famous yet, in fact, she claimed that she enjoys being able to walk around without getting noticed. But that subtleness and anonymity will gradually pale off soon in the tide of her surefooted abilities and explorations in the world of decor and events management.
She established AZALEA Events and Florals, an events and decor company because of the mounting request on her to turn her childhood passion into a money making venture. While growing up Damilola found herself being at the center as the organiser whenever family and friends wished to stage a coordinated ceremony. The Geography graduate of the University of Ibadan however went ahead to hone her crafts in event management as she bagged certificates in project management and florals.
Given her gift and the quality of her works and expousre, the next few months might just be the period her entrepreneurial gift would break out of the pod and the delectable entrepreneur will have to adjust. The budding entrepreneur bears the carriage and personal ethics characteristic of very few aged and well-heeled business magnates. That is what makes her different and seemingly defiant of every historic stereotype arbitrarily foisted on most of her peers.
Damola is in many ways a whale out of the deep. Unlike too many Nigerian businessmen and entrepreneurs, she is not warm and fuzzy, chronically late and undisciplined in financial matters; on the contrary, Damola is habitually punctual and precise, detail-oriented, works from seven to eight and has a reputation for always getting things done and achieving results.
In a rich yet grippingly feminine burr, Damola enthused about her dreams, projecting that limitless confidence and exuberance like indispensable armours against the scary and oft demoralizing wallops of fate. Her enthusiasm is no doubt a result of her enviable pedigree and exposure from childhood.
“I would say it’s a passion I picked up from childhood. I came from a family where we are always having parties, meetings from church and I just found myself being the person that would organize everything from the catering, the drink and the planning. I am always satisfied when I see people enjoy themselves at event I managed; I get a lot of commendations for organizing parties for my family. I just came to the conclusion I should make it a business. Having parties is an everyday lifestyle in Nigeria and things have evolved that everybody now employs an event planner to manage their events. Gone are those days when intending couple go around sourcing for items for their weddings. Now they can just relax while we take the stress off them. You can just sit and conceive what you want and we planners will make it happen,” she said.
According to her, she had always known that a career in events and décor is her ultimate calling even before she started. “I know what I wanted, after I had planned some events, I knew this is what I wanted to do. First I love putting things together, I enjoy seeing people happy at events and because of my passion to put events together I decided to get a certificate in project management because every event is like a project, there is the start and the finish, there is execution and there is the planning. So I am sure this is what I want to do.
To bolster her skills, Damola also took a course in Project Management just after she acquired her First Degree. “What really helped me in the job was my experience in putting flowers together for decoration. While growing up we have a garden in my house where we pick flowers to decorate the living room, so I grew up loving flowers. Aside that I did a course as a florist, right now I am a decorator and an event planner. The ambience of an event is very important, it says a lot about the event, when people walk into an event venue and see beautiful things they are pleased and are at home. It helps the flow of the event, everybody is happy,” she disclosed.
But how did she come by the name of her event company: Azalea? Damola stated thus: “Azalea is the name of a flower. Azalea is very strong and grows anywhere, it doesn’t need special weather to grow and it comes in different shapes and colours and that’s my personality. I am a strong and tenacious woman I hate restriction so I wanted my company to be built on something like that; Azalea is a flower that has no boundaries.”
And in the face of too many event companies and prospective rivals in the events and décor industry, Damola said she suffers neither worry nor trepidation because she is bringing a whole lot of new things and ingenuity on board. “As an event planner, we are always searching for new things, innovations, something that will make our job easier and beautiful. People have had Hawaii party in Nigeria, they have had wonderland party in Nigeria; you park your car outside and its really bright and sunny and when you enter the event venue everywhere is chilled and white as snow. Right now, destination wedding is more popular among the rich. People go to Dubai, Barbados to do their wedding. I am bringing excitement to event planning because that is what people ask for,” she enthused.
Unlike most of her competitors, Damola claimed that her fees her moderate and tailored to suit the needs of her clientele. She said: “I work on budget, having a budget gives me an idea of what is available on the table for the event. A budget for 2000 guests is different from the budget of 500 guests. I believe that event planners should be able to work within people’s budget.”
But despite her towering success in the field of events management and décor, Damola revealed that she still has to deal with several challenges. “Like every other business there are challenges but the benefit in event planning outweighs the challenges,” she noted adding that, “One of the challenges we face is organization. It is not easy to structure an event and your client gets satisfaction. We are also confronted with the challenges of getting skilled committed and dedicated staffs. I have to trust whoever I want to delegate task to because the interest of the client matters a lot. So if you don’t have good and reliable people working with you, then you are in a big mess.”
Notwithstanding the challenges, Damola would say business has been rewarding. “I would say it has been beneficial, if not I won’t still be in business. Azalea is not just an event or décor company, we are building an organization that will still be there in future. So if there hasn’t been much financial gains now it is because we are focusing more on what we are building for the future.”
Damola was born in Ibadan, Oyo State and she attended the University of Ibadan, after which she relocated to Lagos. I later moved into IT before I found myself in event planning and décor. My office is in Lekki Phase1 Lagos, I am a Christian.
